Forever Here

by Harold Wall

  Valerie as the nurse finished checking his vitals.

  As he headed out he glanced between the two women, looked at Storm with sympathy in his eyes, and swiftly exited the room. Emerald walked to the other side of Storm's bed to

  face Valerie.

  "Listen, I'm really sorry, Valerie. I don't know what happened—" Storm started but she interrupted him, keeping her notsowarmanymore cornflower blue eyes trained strictly on

  Emerald.

  "I'm not mad at you," she spat, speaking to Storm, her eyes still on Emerald, before addressing her. "I don't like getting mad at people, and I was trying to be nice to you, but this

  has gone too far! How do you expect me to act if, first, I find out my boyfriend's in the hospital and then I come in and find you, his ex, sleeping with him? Why didn't you call

  his girlfriend?"

  "Storm's father said that it'd be better if we didn't wake you." Emerald answered in an emotionless, detached voice.

  "Oh, so now it's Adrian's fault that you slept with Storm?"

  "You said it, not me."

  Valerie's eyes flared and she gritted her teeth.

  Emerald didn't register the slap until about a second after, when she blinked and found herself staring slightly to her right side, and her cheek stung. Her hands balled into fists but

  she restrained herself from hitting Valerie, that wouldn't do her any good right now. Besides, there was some justice behind that slap. Emerald and Storm weren't going out and

  Emerald had just slept with Storm (but not in that way, the literal sleeping way).

  Valerie didn't notice this, however, because she was too mad.

  Emerald slowly turned her head back to face Valerie again.

  "Nothing happened," Emerald strained to keep her voice emotionless. Her eyes flickered to Storm. "Storm's too good to let anything like that happen." She looked back at Valerie

  who wasn't buying it.

  "The hell nothing happened!" She snapped slapping Emerald again, who, this time, had to put both her hands behind her back and dig her nails into her arms, drawing blood, to keep

  herself from jumping over the bed and attacking Valerie.

  Storm put a gentle hand on Valerie's arm, "Valerie," he warned. She turned her head to look at him momentarily and seemed to calm down just a tad bit. Taking a deep breath she

  looked at Emerald again.

  "Am I going to have to monitor you two now? How I can trust you two to even be in a room together?" she asked.

  Emerald dropped her one free hand, bringing the other arm with her jacket slung over it back in front of her.

  "There's no need." she said bitterly not caring if they saw her selfinflicted wounds, or heard the bitterness in her voice, unwanted tears forming in her eyes. "Nothing happened

  between me and him. End of story."

  Valerie opened her mouth to speak but Emerald spoke before she could, "You don't have to worry about anything anymore, Valerie," her words were harsh and cold and cutting.

  "You won't have to see me or hear from me or interact with me ever again. You'll get to keep your precious boyfriend all to yourself." With those last words, she turned and headed

  out of the room without a hitch.

  On her way out of the hospital, though, she blinked as she stepped outside, not realizing how bright, though overcast, it was. The unshed tears spilled over. Emerald quickly reached

  up to wipe them away as she continued down the street back to the Marriott.

  When she got into her suite, though, instead of going into her bedroom and drowning in her miseries like she had originally wanted to, she was greeted with Sky and Carter. They

  stood up and appeared at the entrance of the hallway, having been sitting in her small living room area, as she entered.

  Emerald slowly closed the door and made her way down the hall following them into the living room.

  "How's Storm?" Sky asked sitting back down once Emerald and Carter had sat down too. She sat across from them, who were on the loveseat.

  "He's fine right now. Better than last night." Emerald informed them in a dead voice.

  Carter looked at her friend carefully. "Did something happen… last night?" she asked. "Have you been crying?" She leaned forward, squinting her eyes.

  Emerald bit her lip and looked away, unconsciously reaching up to wipe her eyes again.

  "No, I have not." she answered forcing a smile, looking back over at them.

  Carter gave her a look calling Emerald on her lie. And then the words just came spilling out: "I slept with Storm."

  Sky's eyes nearly popped out of his head and Carter's mouth dropped to the floor.

  "Not—not in that way!" Emerald exclaimed sitting forward, hands flying up, palms facing out as she shook them like she was waving hi, only much faster. "I mean… in thethe

  way, likelike… actually sleeping with him. We didn't—I mean, we didn't—" She broke off unable to say it with Sky there. It was just too awkward.

  Carter looked expectantly at Sky. He didn't get it at first but when he did, he jumped like he'd been shocked and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

  He tapped a few buttons and pretended to read something.

  "Uhoh, I just got an urgent text… II'm late for thethe… thing at the… place." he said shoving his phone back into his pocket and standing up. "I'm glad to hear Storm is doing

  better. Call or text me if anything changes." He bowed slightly before swiftly heading to the door.

  Carter stood too. "I'll walk you out." She followed.

  "Call when you're done and I'll come pick you up." Sky said when they'd reached the door. "Be safe."

  "You be safe." Carter paused. "And… thanks." she said in a barely audible whisper.

  Sky smiled. "Love you."

  "Love you, too."

  There was a moment of silence as they exchanged a kiss and then Sky headed out to go do… whatever until Carter needed him to come pick her back up.

  Carter headed back into the living room and sat down on the loveseat. Emerald stared at her cautiously. She smiled and patted the seat next to her. She continued to look at Carter

  for another minute or so before giving up and going to sit next to her. She stared down at her hands; Carter stared at her, waiting patiently.

  Emerald rubbed the back of her neck before bringing it back down into her lap. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember what happened last night that had led up to this morning.

  "I guess… I should start from the beginning," she mumbled sitting back, staring at the wall across from both of them as she started to tell Carter every detail she could remember

  of what happened last night.

  She'd gone out hunting. Somehow she'd managed to get back into the Lancers. She wasn't all that welcome partly because she was a vampire and partly because of what she'd done

  to Hal (who used to be the head of the Lancers here in Manhattan that Emerald had regrettably tortured and killed when she'd gone on a bad streak with her father). They were still

  wary and cold toward her, but after a few trips with a whole group of hunters proving herself she gained some of their trust.

  That might have also been because she used to be, and still was in a way, the Vigilante.

  She still hunted with three or four hunters every night to monitor her, but it wasn't as bad as the five to eight that used to hunt with her. And she stuck to the streets, only killing

  those who fed off and killed innocent humans, like usual.

  Tonight she was with Cathy, Brian, and William. She was dressed as she normally was during these hunting nights, with her navy blue spaghettistrap tank top, jean skirt, and

  stiletto black boots that stopped just below her knees, the fabric, thin and velvet. Over this was her signature black pea jacket stretching down to midcalf and one of her masks,

  circling her eyes that was the stickon/peeloff kind. The color tonight was a shocking gold color. She no longer wore co
lor contacts or a wig, because her mask—despite changing

  color—stayed the same and that way if a vampire saw her she was utterly recognizable as the Vigilante.

  However she did start putting her hair back in different ways each night, it easier to fight without hair flying in her face while she fought. Tonight it was in a twisted updo, with a

  strand of hair on her right side hanging out.

  Emerald walked a few paces ahead of the three, on high alert, listening for any sounds of vampires as well as the three behind her. They were murmuring about her.

  "If you're going to talk to me, I'd appreciate it if you said it to my face, thank you very much." Emerald said, stopping but not facing them.

  The three exchanged looks right before Emerald turned around. None of them said anything.

  "I'm waiting." Emerald said crossing her arms.

  "Why do you go out and hunt your own kind? Isn't that… kind of like turning your back on your own race, or something?" Cathy asked, though Emerald was only asking for Brian

  who didn't trust Emerald at all, but always volunteered to go with her hunting. Probably to kill her himself if she ever slipped up, even once.

  Her eyes flashed silver and she smiled, the points of her fangs pushing down on her bottom lip slightly. "Would you like me to hunt you, instead?" she asked as the three of them

  bristled in front of her, holding up their weapons. Emerald let her face turn human again and spun around continuing her walk as if nothing happened. "And it's not like humans kill

  each other all the time?" She answered.

  The rest of the night had gone well, killing five vampires. Usually on these nights, Emerald watched as they fought and only helped when absolutely needed. Most of the Lancers

  were only out there because they were looking for revenge and why get in the way of that? They parted ways at about two in the morning, Emerald leaving her mask on. She just

  always liked to keep up the act until she got home. Not that she needed to, but old habits died hard.

  Per usual she took the quiet, but more dangerous route home and as she was exiting and alley she came across a scene with four people, all in their early twenties. Before they

  could spot her she jumped behind the wall and peeked out. They weren't vampires, none of them. But the three were definitely picking on the fourth who was already bleeding from

  nearly everywhere on his body. Knife wounds could be seen very clearly. One long slash on each of his legs, two on each of his arms, several on his torso, and several on his face

  as well, though those were shallow cuts. It didn't look like they'd stabbed him just yet, but the leader, Emerald assumed, was holding the knife about ready to.

  Emerald pulled back, peeled off her mask and put it into her coat pocket before taking her coat off, slinging it over her shoulder and undoing her hair, letting it tumbled down her

  back and around her face.

  Taking a deep breath, she really didn't need because these guys were human, she stepped out and cleared her throat.

  "Hey boys," she called right before it looked like the leader was going to deliver the killing blow.

  All three of them looked at her, appraised her, looking for any sort of weapon or possibly any sign that she was a cop. When they had decided that she wasn't, the one wielding the

  knife shoved it into his belt and walked over to her, smiling a wicked gleam in his eye.

  Emerald returned the smile.

  "What's a little lady like yourself doing here, all alone?" the man, with dark eyes and dark brown hair, asked stopping about a foot in front her, one hand on his knife, one hand on

  his hip, his eyes roaming from bottom to top of Emerald.

  Emerald shrugged. "Just… going for a stroll." she told him lightly, letting her eyes stray to two other members of his little gang and the victim in between them, being held against

  the wall by them. Emerald made sure to monitor his heartbeat.

  Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome looked over his shoulder at the scene and turned back to Emerald, his eyes hardening, taking a step closer to her.

  "You didn't see anything." He warned, his hand now gripping the hilt of his sixinchlong knife. "Walk away now or things are going to get real ugly."

  "Are you… threatening me?" she asked.

  He narrowed his eyes before taking yet another step closer. Emerald could smell the smoke and alcohol roiling off of him and did her best not to cringe away. "I don't know, you tell me." He pulled the knife out of his belt, but let his hand hang at his side.

  "I'm afraid I can't." Emerald told him, dropping her hands from loosely crossed to one hand covering the other, arms hanging in front of her.

  "Then we," Tall, Dark and Handsome started bringing forward his knife and gently running it across her cheek, "have a problem." He brushed some of her hair out of her face with

  the blade then. "I'd hate to hurt such a pretty face."

  "Then don't." Emerald suggested, shrugging, meeting his eyes.

  He stared at her for a moment, before looking back at his buddies for another moment. He turned to face her again when he'd made his decision. "You're right. I won't." he said

  right before he threw his knife into his right hand and brought it down, the blade lodging and sinking into the base of Emerald's neck, right behind her left collar bone.

  She gasped and let out a small cry of pain, for Tall, Dark, and Handsome's sake, and veered away from him, knife and all. She stumbled over to the wall, leaning heavily against it,

  gasping and breathing heavily, letting her hair fall over the knife as she did so.

  Emerald looked back over at Tall, Dark and Handsome, who seemed to be pleased with himself, smiling maliciously, liking the pain she was in. Not for long.

  "Are you crazy!" she gasped, furthering the act, sliding down to a sitting position, looking up at him. He shrugged.

  "I didn't say I'd hate to hurt anything else."

  Emerald narrowed her eyes at him and fought the urge to say touché. Then she quickly turned back to the knife, the sensation now becoming annoying. She reached up and pulled

  all her hair covering the hilt over her left shoulder before reaching up, grasping the hilt, and slowly pulling it out of her neck, enjoying how Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome's eyes

  widened and his mouth dropped open as he watched in disbelief as Emerald's wound healed and closed up, leaving nothing to show he'd stabbed her, not even a hint of a scar.

  Tall, Dark and Handsome stumbled back as Emerald stood, smiling, leaving her coat sitting on the ground—she'd just get it later.

  "Wwho… whatwhat are you?" he stuttered.

  Still smiling, Emerald jammed the knife into the wall, creating sparks and slowly walked toward him, letting the silver flood her eyes and her canines elongate.

  "You're worst nightmare." she said menacingly.

  "You didn't kill them, did you?" Carter interrupted, eyes wide.

  Emerald shook her head. "Of course not. I simply knocked them out."

  "But they saw your face. They could report you."

  She shook her head again. "The powers of being a vampire. I repressed any memory of that night. They won't remember what happened or know who I am…. But I think if they see me they might have this overwhelming fear they can't explain." Emerald mused.

  Carter rolled her eyes. Sometimes she couldn't understand how Emerald could like that people were afraid of her. She was a sweet, caring person with feelings and a soul it just

  didn't seem that way because of all the things she'd been through, which was totally understandable to Carter. Emerald had to have some to way to cope, right?

  "Okay, so what does this have to do with Storm and you and the hospital bed and the sleeping, literally, with each other?" Carter wondered.

  "Very specific there." Emerald muttered, hating being reminded of what happened. Carter shrugged. "Did I forget to tell you? Storm was those three guys' victim." Carter's mouth />
  dropped at this news. "Yeah, sorry, I guess I forgot to mention that." Emerald continued with her story.

  After erasing the third and final guy's memory she turned toward Storm who was now slumped against the ground, still bleeding. Worry washed over Emerald and she instantly

  regretted her decision to "play with her food." It was just a hard temptation to ignore. A guilty pleasure of hers.

  She quickly went over to him and knelt over him, his heart beat was… okay, but getting weaker and his breath was coming out in ragged gasps. The state of his body was

  horrendous; the true definition of bloody murder, only Storm was still hanging on.

  "Can you hear me?" Emerald asked, one of her hands brushing some bloodcoated hair out of Storm's eyes.

  "Emerald?" Storm asked in a hoarse voice.

  "Do you have your cell phone?" she asked, planning on calling 911.

  "No, they… took it. Smashed it." he answered a shaking, bloodied hand lifting slightly pointing somewhere behind Emerald. She looked and sure enough there was a pile of what

  used to be his cell phone.

  Emerald didn't have hers either because it seemed unnecessary when she hunted.

  She let out a sigh. "We need to get you to the hospital." She stood, grabbed her coat, and went back to Storm. "May I?"

  "Go for it."

  Carefully and as gently as she could, she took Storm's wrist and put his arm around her shoulders, slowly lifting him up, at his pace to make sure that he was in the least amount of

  pain. Every now and again Storm would tense, his teeth would clench and a small groan or yelp of pain would come out of his mouth, but they finally managed to stand.

  As they started forward, Emerald pushing Storm to go just a tad bit faster because she was deathly afraid he wouldn't make it to the hospital before he bled out, Storm started to make conversation, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you act like that before."

  Emerald rolled her eyes. "You don't remember the time I totally turned evil with my father?" she asked.

  "Yes, I do, but I mean, that was different. These guys were human—"

  "You're… human."

  "That's beside the point. I've never seen you so scary before in front of humans. I didn't think you had it in you." He paused. "It's kind of a turn on."